I wore Amouage Epic Man today. Who knows where I got the sample but, wow, it's a lot of scent. Eight hours in and I still smell fully cologned. You MUST try it. Amouage Gold Man packs a punch but the boxing gloves are filled with baby powder.

But Epic Man is substantive shit. And more complex than Ulysses. It's the perfume equivalent of Ulysses!

Look at that ingredient list: frankincense, cumin, cardamom, saffron, nutmeg, myrtle, geranium, myrrh, oud, sandalwood, patchouli, leather, cedarwood, musk. I swear, I can smell every one of those things, tumbling out in phase after phase. It's somehow both layered and crystal clear, none of that mushy stuff you complain about in perfumes. Excellent.

Dan

Dan,

Yes yes yes, and indeed, YES! Epic Man. Yes. As soon as I smelled it, I loved it. And SERIOUSLY wanted to buy it. It's sort of a "nude oud" -- not too Band-Aid-y, mixed in with gorgeous other things that amount to a very fancy skin scent.

Two different times I went into Scent Bar and kind of overdid it when I applied it, which isn't a good idea because it starts to smell vaguely beefy. Like Epic Man should have been Burger King Flame:

Now I'm going to put on my samp of Epic Man, even though I'm already wearing Malle Musc Ravageur Oil. I'm thinking Epic and MR could work together. I know the sound of it makes you barf, probably.

Katie

Katie,

Yes, Epic with MR is more than sickening, it's reckless.

I'm tellin' you, eleven hours in and Epic Man is still moving. I read an interview with the creative director, Christopher Chung, and he said he wanted it to smell like an old leather Chinese travel trunk. But it's so much more. This is easily my favorite oud.

I'm thinking about getting this. Problem is with Amouage, the 50 ml size costs only slightly less than the 100 ml. Maybe I'll sell off some perfumes.

Dan

Dan,

Yes, in for a penny, in for pound. As ridiculous as it is to spend so much money on an Amouage, it's more ridiculous to not buy the most expensive version, only because you get so much more for not much more. I'm not going to re-read that, and will just trust that it makes sense. Can you believe, after wearing them together, Epic Man crushed Musc Ravageur like a bug! All I can smell is Epic Man. And maybe a little Epic Steak. This thing is savory. Wow, a little sure goes a long way. That's part of the whole epic-ness, I guess.

Katie

Katie,

You should stage Perfume Death Match, with a round-robin layering tournament to determine the strongest perfume in the world. Why? I don't know. It's dumb. But dumb-funny.

I am surprised by how quickly Musc Ravageur folded. That's one of the only perfumes I distinctly smelled on myself the next day. And, as you might imagine, I wasn't happy about it. It was the smell equivalent of ringing in your ears.

Was it a fair fight? How long had Musc Ravageur been on? These fights need to be sanctioned, y'know. "it's more ridiculous to not buy the most expensive version, only because you get so much more for not much more."

This is also funny because you could easily be eleven and writing about buying soda at Burger King. Putting on Epic Man yesterday, after days of sampling random things, was like stepping out of a Honda and into a luxury jet. The others were crushed, like bugs! Like Hondas! (At this point, I have no idea what I'm saying.)

So sit tight because I'm gonna buy it. And, of course, you will benefit with decants. Oh, and I owe you some Czech & Speake Cuba, too, which is also a substantial thing, though not nearly as substantial as Epic Man so it's pointless to even mention it in this paragraph, to mention anything else in this paragraph, this is an Epic Man paragraph, dammit!

Dan

Dan,

Epic Man makes me feel "too full" when I spray too much on.

Katie

Katie,

The obsessiveness of all this Epic Man business makes me think of an old interview with Bob Dylan. It was during one of his fallow periods in the early-90s, and when asked about making new music, he scoffed and said the world already has enough songs, more than it can ever listen to.

Same with perfume, right? And yet how depressed would you be, with your dozens of bottles, if you knew you could have no new perfume for a year? I know how depressed I'd be. So perfume is an emotional pursuit. But also an intellectual one. And yet it's unarguably a frivolous little thing, one that sometimes takes priority over more important things. A frivolous priority.

That's always an interesting angle, like the old men in their engineer hats playing with model trains. So, I bought Epic Man. All I need now is an engineer hat.

But wearing Epic Man now, it's even stronger and richer than I had remembered. I'm afraid it's growing hair.

How often do you make a run to Luckyscent? Living in the Midwest don't offer those benefits. I get this picture of you just grabbing bottles and spritzing to your hearts content. Musc Ravageur is it as good as I hear or is it all hype for a guy? I am not looking for the stripper to swoon over me. Just a few looks in the casino as I walk by. ;) Epic man is a great scent, but I don't think it has that effect. As for C&S Cuba to me smelled too much like a Old Humidor. The second image I got was old teabags used that had laid about for a week!

No surprise to me that Epic Man beat the crud out of MR in the Perfume Death Match. In fact, I would place a bet on a number of the Amouages over, well, a whole bunch of other scents in similar layering tests.

The Golds, both Man and Woman, could put down a serious layer of powder and just choke the crap out of most any contender. Epic Woman (which I love) is Man's twin sister with a big hit of rose wafting out of all of that frankincense and oud.

I've never worn Epic Man, although I've sniffed it and liked it. Dan, you're scaring me a bit. If I sprayed it on, would I grow a moustache?

Reading this makes me laugh and I imagine two old hippies passing a toke back and forth while pontificating on the merits of the perfumes. I would think without having this written record of it, you wouldn't remember any of it once the air, er, cleared. Good stuff!

Gojira, your opinion of Musc Ravageur could well hinge on your expectations, which will hinge on the hype you've read. I say be mindful that many male MR hypers are susceptible to fake swooning and adjust your expectations thusly.

And melisand61, I doubt you'll grow a full mustache from Epic Man. It's more elegant than that. Expect some delicate sideburns and maybe a subtle goatee.

And combining the comments of Julia and ScentsofSmell, I guess Katie and I are a couple of clever old hippies. With tasteful tufts of facial hair.

Well I'm not so sure Moi would get the fake swooning. I still have my looks to compenstates me. LOL I just would like a good Musk. I had a really bad testing of Serge Lutens KK. So I just hoping not to get that again. I don't expect that with Musc Ravageur. I could be put in the CAT. that Katie put Nathan in,HHHMMMM what was it again. Benzoin Bunny. The way I have seen Katie talk about it I thought it might be worth it for me to check out.

I'm thrilled to hear that a goatee might be coming my way! All the strong pros and cons in relation to Musc Ravageur made me think: I must try something that evokes such strong reactions, so I've ordered a sample. A goatee is - I suppose - preferable to unevenly distributed facial hair. Or maybe there are different benefits for women who try MR - Rapunzel hair, perhaps. We'll see.

Dan, I can definitely follow you in relation to the frivolous priority of fragrances - I guess it's more a question of degrees, than an either or, if that makes sense. Personally, fragrances help me balance out the aspects of my work life - which are plenty - that have to do with demands of rational thikning, strategy, political "stuff", writing briefs and applying the principle of due dilligence etc. etc. etc. The immediate pleasure and the sensory stimulation of exploring different scents and notes help me achieve some sort cerebral balance.

I know you are speaking of Epic Man, but I had a strange experience with Epic Woman's epicness. After I applied a bit (just a bit!) of my sample vial, I picked up the can of Diet Mountain Dew I was drinking and the carbonation had totally disappeared. It was like something in Epic had rendered my diet soda completely flat.

Now I don't know if my perception of carbonation was altered by the perfume, or that Epic's molecules just ate that carbonation for lunch, but it was weird. And totally replicable. I tried it two more times with the same result.

dea, I think that your experience should be used in Epic's ad copy, although I'm not exactly sure how. Something about Epic changing your body chemistry. I guess it would take some careful spin to make that seem like a good thing.

dea, I'm cracking up at the high/low combo of you wearing an Amouage perfume while drinking diet Mountain Dew!

Junelady, I'm so with you on the joys of perfume as a sensory stimulator. For me, it stimulates my creativity as well. I love wearing fragrances while I'm writing (writing about anything,not just perfume) - it livelies up my brain. I agree that perfume exploration and enjoyment works on me therapeutically. And the best thing is, the benefits are portable - wherever you may waft with your Pepe Le Pew sillage.

Gojira, I am very very lucky to live near to such a comprehensive perfume emporium as Scent Bar. I'm probably in there once every 2 weeks on average, but in the past week and a half, I was in there an embarrassing 4 times to score extra samples of my new favorite perfume (of the moment), By Kilian Rose Oud. Oh sure, I pegged the visits as "research" (checking out the new Xerjoffs and other bits and pieces), but the real objective was to leave the shop smelling head to toe of Rose Oud.

Re Musc Ravageur, just try it and see if you like it! It's strong, but in a soft and enveloping way, not "stinky" like Musc Kublai Khan.

SoS, you don't know how right you are: "without having this written record of it, you wouldn't remember any of it once the air, er, cleared". It's amazing what a complete surprise the sum total of Dan's and my ramblings are. Although, I think of us less as old hippies and more like babbling meth-heads. Unstable addicts feeding each other our triggers to go out and do more of the hard stuff.

Oh you like that Rose Oud? I got my wife a sample of that and she luuuuvvvvvvvvesssss it! I have to admit I like it too. Smells divine on her. I already have plans on surprising her with it when she meets me in Vegas! Writing this looking down at the Mirage Volcano!

Gojira, I love love LOVE Rose Oud. I am koo-koo for Coco Puffs for Rose Oud. Me hail Rose Oud. What a perfectly stupendous gift for your lucky wife. And what a dramatic location from which to send your comment!

Oh, the imagery just gets better and better! Babbling meth-heads. Women with delicate sideburns, goatees and/or pencil moustaches. And probably a bunch of us wafting the Epics while sipping diet sodas straight from the can.

Was it merely a matter of societal disapproval that prompted Cole Porter to change the original "I Get A Kick Out Of You" lyric from "some get a kick from cocaine" to "some like a whiff of Guerlain"? Six of one, half-dozen of the other.

Katie - from your mouth to Les Senteurs' web page - I emailed them because I had log-on problem and couldn't re-order a sample. Classy establishment that they are they immediately offered to send me a new sample with their compliments. Until then I will have to sniff the invoice and the envelope. Which I do.

J25 speaks to me from a higher place and I'm already contemplating a savings plan. It is Chanel no. 5 gone Arabian nights. It makes me happy. I will have to succumb. You're right.

Just bought Epic man yesterday after wearing the last of my tiny sample of it. OMG what have I done-- this thing is a monster! And I love it!! This really keeps me interested from start to finish, the sign of a masterpiece in my opinion. It even seems so much more powerful coming from the bottle sprayer. It now sits proudly next to my Jubilation XXV ... on the top row!!! -Travis